:-ussy
{{Short description|English-language morpheme}}
{{italic title}}
{{About|the English-language morpheme|the French commune|Ussy}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
File:Calzone04.jpg could be called a {{Not a typo|pizzussy}}.{{Cite web |last=Squires |first=Bethy |date=January 26, 2022 |title=We Asked Linguists Why People Are Adding {{nowrap|-Ussy}} to Every Word |url=https://www.vulture.com/2022/01/bussy-trend-linguists-explain.html |website=Vulture|quote=Riffing off 'bussy' (a portmanteau of 'boy' and 'pussy'), now everything is a cat or a cavity. A calzone is a pizzussy.}}{{r|name=inquirer|p=1|q=From '{{Not a typo|SCOTUSSY}}' — which was thrown around online during coverage of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, to '{{Not a typo|pizzussy}}' — a very unserious way to playfully and ironically sexualize the enjoyment of pizza and calzones, young people basically just slapped '{{Not a typo|-ussy}}' on the end of any phrase.}}]]
{{nowrap|-ussy}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʊ|s|i}} {{Respell|UUS|ee}}) is an English-language morpheme derived from the word pussy used to create novel derived terms, typically with the implication of resembling the female genitalia in some way. Neologisms derived from pussy have existed in LGBTQ slang in the form bussy (boy pussy) since the early 2000s, but were popularized in the late 2010s and early 2020s on social media platforms including Tumblr and TikTok. {{nowrap|-ussy}} was named the American Dialect Society's word of the year for 2022.
History
Portmanteaus derived from pussy, referred to by Michael Dow (a linguist at the {{Lang|fr|Université de Montréal|italic=no}}) as "pussy blends", were first noted within LGBTQ slang. These include the terms bussy (boy pussy), referring to a man's anus, and mussy (man pussy), with bussy first appearing on the Internet in 2004.{{Cite journal |last=Dow |first=Michael |date=2018 |title=A corpus study of phonological factors in novel English blends |url=https://cla-acl.ca/pdfs/actes-2018/Dow-2018.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association |publisher=Canadian Linguistic Association |pages=1–14}}{{rp|p=4}}{{refn|group=note|Bussy can also be used to refer to a transmasculine person's vagina.{{cite book |last1=Fielding |first1=Lucie |title=Trans Sex: Clinical Approaches to Trans Sexualities and Erotic Embodiments |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York|isbn=9780429318290|page=91|via=Google Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nsIrEAAAQBAJ}}}} In this context, Dow described {{nowrap|-ussy}} as a fractomorpheme analogous to -gate (from Watergate).{{rp|p=13}} An April 2017 Tumblr post popularized pussy blends, including the term thrussy (from throat),{{Cite news |date=2 March 2023 |first=Joanne|last=Joanne |volume=29|issue=5|title=Agony Aunt |url=https://universityobserver.ie/agony-aunt-volume-xxix-issue-five/|newspaper=The University Observer|publisher=University College Dublin Students' Union|location=Dublin}} and it was further spread as part of the "one thicc bih" Internet meme about a month later.{{rp|p=4}} A 2018 study of pussy blends on Twitter as part of the meme identified 1,338 pussy blends used in tweets from June to August 2017.{{rp|p=8}} Other examples of pussy blends include Thatchussy (Margaret Thatcher + pussy), clussy (clown + pussy),{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Magdalene |date=2022-06-28 |title=Serve Me Up a Slice of That Clussy |url=https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/geiru-toneido-clussy |access-date=2024-04-24 |magazine=MEL Magazine}} grussy (Grinch + pussy),{{rp|p=6}} nussy (nose + pussy),{{Cite magazine |last=Dickson |first=EJ |date=2020-12-21 |title=Meet the People Getting Off on Covid-19 Nasal Swabs |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/covid-test-nasal-swabs-nussy-1105797/ |access-date=2024-08-26 |magazine=Rolling Stone}} and birdussy (bird + pussy, referring to a bird's cloaca).{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Magdalene |title=We've Reached Peak '-Ussy' |url=https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/weve-reached-peak-ussy |magazine=MEL Magazine|date=February 28, 2022 }} A 2024 Dune: Part Two movie promotional popcorn bucket covered with a sandworm mouth was called a {{not a typo|Duneussy}} by a magazine editor and gained Internet fame for resembling a Fleshlight.{{cite magazine|magazine=Esquire|date=March 1, 2024|last=Kranc|first=Lauren|title=Dune: Part Two: We Reviewed the Sandworm Popcorn Bucket. (For Science.)|url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a60045657/dune-part-two-popcorn-bucket-review/}}{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Angela |date=January 28, 2024 |title='Dune: Part 2' is going viral for its sandworm replica popcorn bucket that some joke is NSFW |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/dune-part-2-going-viral-popcorn-bucket-joke-nsfw-rcna136079 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128211844/https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/dune-part-2-going-viral-popcorn-bucket-joke-nsfw-rcna136079 |archive-date=January 28, 2024 |publisher=NBC News|via=Internet Archive}}
Use of {{nowrap|-ussy}} as a suffix (sometimes called {{nowrap|-ussification}}) was popularized on TikTok beginning in late 2021.{{Cite news |last=Bloch |first=Emily |date=January 11, 2023 |title=Language scholars decided '{{nowrap|-ussy}}' was the word of 2022. Here's what that means. |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/ussy-american-dialect-society-word-suffix-of-year-20230111.html |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406120458/https://www.inquirer.com/news/ussy-american-dialect-society-word-suffix-of-year-20230111.html |archive-date=6 April 2024 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |via=Internet Archive}} The suffix has been used in reference to a physical hole (e.g., a donut's {{Not a typo|donutussy}}){{r|name=inquirer|p=1|q='[It] can be a physical structure analog — like a {{Not a typo|donutussy}}, [with] a hole, or it can be metaphorical,' [Kirby] Conrod explained.}} as well as in a more figurative sense to emphasize an effort involving an object or concept (e.g., a barista putting their "whole {{Not a typo|baristaussy}}" into latte art).See put one's whole pussy into on Wiktionary.
The suffix was named the word of the year for 2022 by the American Dialect Society, with its president Ben Zimmer stating the selection "highlights how creativity in new word formation has been embraced online in venues like TikTok."{{Cite web |date=January 6, 2023 |title=2022 Word of the Year is '{{nowrap|-ussy}}' |url=https://www.americandialect.org/2022-word-of-the-year-is-ussy |website=American Dialect Society}}
See also
Notes
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{{wikt}}
References
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{{Generation Z slang}}